The "Internet of Things" explained

These days we here a lot of discussions revolving around the IOT, to explain in simpler terms: The Internet of Things (IoT) is a scenario in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless technologies, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and the Internet.

Image courtesy: iotintegrationexperts.com

With Broadband Internet becoming more widely available, the cost of connecting is decreasing and more devices are being created with wifi capabilities and censors built into them. All of these things are creating a "perfect storm" for the IoT.

At a very basic level, "Internet of Things" means devices that can sense aspects of the real world like temperature, lighting, the presence or absence of people or objects, etc. and report that real-world data, or act on it. Instead of most data on the Internet being produced and consumed by people(text, audio, video), more and more information would be produced and consumed by machines, communicating between themselves to (hopefully) improve the quality of our lives.

Some of the examples of the IOT implementations are:
- The city of Boston has commissioned a smartphone app called Street Bump to help its road maintenance crews learn where the worst potholes are.
- Haiku ceiling fan with SenseME technology contains sensors that adjust the fan’s speed based on a room’s humidity and temperature.
- Wearable devices from companies like FitBit and Jawbone upload statistics related to your physical activity to the web, so you can analyze the data and make better choices.

According to a Gartner report, by 2020 there will be over 26 billion connected devices (some even estimate this number to be much higher, over 100 billion). So lets wait and watch how the IOT changes the current world to a more connected one.